The Swarm
by PeppaPig
Summary: Hitsugaya and Matsumoto are forced to ask the captain of the Hidden Divison for help when Aizen brings his battle to the world of the living. Tsunade puts together a team of her best, who happen to have high spiritual energy, to join the Shinigami in their fight against Aizen. -Mainly HitsuMatsu and NejiTen-
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Neji Hyuga had woken up early, as he did every morning. He completed his usual morning duties quickly and bid farewell to his housemates before leaving his compound. Neji made it to the familiar, empty grounds of his team's training field. Neji scanned the place and decided that nothing was out of the ordinary.

Nothing except for the fact that his team's training grounds was _empty_.

Neji activated his Byakugan, assuming that his two less than mature teammates were playing hide-n-seek, or something to that idiotic effect.

He found nothing, no evidence of his teammate's existence. What he did find was a note stuck to a tree—his tree—pinned up by a kunai. He slowly made his way over and ripped the note down. He looked at it, his sensei's handwriting scribbled all over it.

_MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT! LEE AND I HAVE AWOKEN EARLY TO COMPLETE 1000 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE. WE ARE LETTING OUR YOUTH BLOOM EVEN EXTRA TODAY! GIVE OUR YOUTHFUL FLOWER THE LARGEST, MOST YOUTHFUL EMBRACE SINCE WE CANNOT DO IT OURSELVES!_

Neji crumpled the note and shoved it into his pocket—after all, a Hyuuga would never litter. At least one of his teammates had excuse for not being present. The Hyuga prodigy sat down beneath the tree that he earlier claimed as his own. He figured there was no sense in getting angry, so he closed his eyes and meditated. He remained in peace, but still aware of his surroundings, for about an hour until a voice that was obnoxious enough to rival that of even Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka's _combined _interrupted his meditation. His eyes snapped open and he looked up to see two people standing before him. A short, white-haired kid who looked about thirteen and a, for lack of a better term, _busty_ strawberry blonde that looked like she could be his mother were staring down at him. Though she looked a bit too young to have a teenaged son, Neji learned from Tsunade that looks were deceiving.

"I think this is him, taichou!" The busty woman turned to the white-haired guy, completely ignoring Neji's presence. _Taichou?_ Neji raised an eyebrow and figured she was just using a strange nickname. The white-haired boy nodded, a stern expression on his face. "Ohayou, I'm Matsumoto Rangiku and this here's my taichou, Hitsugaya Toshirou!"

"Matsumoto, what are you doing?" Neji was a bit startled at the somewhat-deep voice that the boy had. _Poor guy hit puberty, but he's still a midget. _"You shouldn't be so open towards strangers!"

"But Tenten-taichou said he was nice!" The busty woman whined, causing both men to wince. "Besides, he's a cute stranger!"

"I hate to break up this wonderful conversation," _Lies_, "but who are you, why are you here, and how do you know Tenten?" Neji etched up an eyebrow. The straweberry blonde began to laugh nervously.

"We'd love to tell you, but it's hard to explain while still sounding believable." The one that was Hitsugaya informed him. "Just to let you know though, we aren't enemies."

"So you're shinobi of another village?" Neji stood up and almost laughed at how much he towered over the boy. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto exchanged glances.

"Huh?" The two asked in the same breath. Neji rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Come with me."

* * *

Tenten let out a soft groan, obviously agitated with her situation. "Damn that Matsumoto." She grumbled to herself as she did a one-handed cartwheel, swiftly avoiding the large fist that nearly crushed her. "Hey, ugly, come get me!" Tenten began sprinting towards the forst, silently thanking her taijutsu master of a sensei. The monster was close behind her, but she _had_ to lead him away from the village. The impact of the Fourth Shinboi War was bad enough, Konoha didn't need a hollow destroying its buildings too. Tenten stopped running and jumped into the air as high as she could, which was pretty high. She almost readied herself to launch a barrage of weapons, but she realized that she wasn't in shinobi mode right now, she was in _shinigami _mode. _Goddamn, don't I get a break? _She thought to herself. Not only did she take a life-risk by being a shinobi, she took an AFTER life risk of being a shinigami. Curse that Ichigo Kurosaki. If it wasn't for him, no one would have ever known that some living people had shinigami abilities. But no, Rukia had to give the boy her powers. So now, here she was, fighting a damn monster.

What's next? Is Sailor Moon going to come from the clear blue sky and announce to her that she was the unawaken sailor scout? Would Goku come from the Heavens and proclaim her to be a super saiyan?

Tenten considered the possibilities of these situations as she flipped through the air, smashing her foot against the hollow's masked face. "Dynamic Entry!" She chuckled a bit as the hollow's mask broke in two and Tenten landed successfully on the ground. _Now time for the hard part_, the bun-haired girl thought to herself.

"Thank you so much!" Tenten turned to the soul of a young, brunette girl who was grinning at her. Tenten cringed at the blue eyes that beamed at her. _This looks like me and Naruto's love child. _

"Ah-ha, no problem." Tenten flashed her a grin. Before she knew it, the little girl was hugging her. Tenten sighed and unsheathed her sword. While the girl was distracted, Tenten lightly tapped the child with her zanpuktou. "I'll see you again soon." She whispered to the disappearing girl. When the girl disappeared completely, Tenten wiped her face with her white sleeve. Even after four years and one promotion to captain of doing this, Tenten still couldn't help getting sad when she had to send souls away. She jumped from tree to tree until she made it back to her small house. She returned to er body, just in time to hear a bang on the door. Tenten sprinted down the stairs and opened the door.

"Tsunade-sama wants to see you." Tenten giggled at the last Uchiha's straightforwardness. She saluted him and grinned, poofing away and leaving leaves in her place.

Tenten knocked on the Hokage's door. "Come in!" Tsunade's booming voice yelled from the other side of the door. Tenten smirked to herself. _She sounds happy._ As soon as she opened the door, she was tackled by a blur of orange and pink. She recognized the cushions that were currently suffocating her as Tsunade's sister's…breasts.

"Matsumoto, you're killing her." Tenten heard the familiar voice of Hitsugaya Toshirou. As usual, Matsumoto ignored her captain's please and continued to strangle…err, embrace Tenten.

"Tsunade-sama said you could explain to me who these people are and why you failed to attend training." She knew _that_ voice all too well.

"Sorry, Neji," Tenten struggled to breath, "something came up. And whoa, wait, you can SEE them!"

"'Giku, you're suffocating one of my best kunoichi." Matsumoto released her upon hearing her sister's voice. "And yes, Tenten, he can see them. Don't you think it's time to reveal one of your biggest secrets to your closest companion?" Tsunade glanced in Neji's direction.

"Huh? Temari's not here," Tenten grinned sheepishly, but she could see that no one else in the room was up for jokes (except maybe Matsumoto). "Honestly, Tsunade-sama, it shouldn't be my place to explain because I am not at fault for my condition." Tsunade gave her a disapproving frown, sending shivers down the sixteen-year old kunoichi's spine.

"Tenten…blaming someone else for your problem's is not the shinobi way." Tenten bit her lip.

"And it's not the shinigami way, either." Histugaya added. "They drilled that into our heads back in the academy."

"Hai, I remember." Tenten laughed. "You didn't like me because I was taking your place as the youngest shinigami."

"Shinigami?" Neji raised an eyebrow, obviously confused.

"Ah," Tenten sat down next to him. "I'm an orphan, you know that. My paremts became shinigami, I'll explain what that is later, when they were in the soul society, which is basically where dead people go…unless you're a Kuchiki, then you're born there."

"Mhm, so once, I was on Earth and needed help fighting a bunch of hollows—which are these huge monster things that came from corrupted human souls that weren't transferred to the Soul Society. They eat the spirits of living and dead souls, and they're bad, bad, bad. Anyway, I needed some help. Tenten was able to see me, and the hollows, so I knew that she had really high spiritual energy, so I awakened her powers. I felt bad because she was really young," Matsumoto continued.

"Tenten was supposed to graduate from the Academy a year earlier than she originally did, but she left the world of the living to train in the Soul Society. She became a shinigami, then she came back to Konoha and had to go through another year at the Academy. Then, she left for a little bit again and became the captain of the Hidden Division," Tsunade explained.

"Now she keeps this world safe by fighting Hollows," Hitsugaya finished.

"Hn." The Hyuga crossed his arms, processing this information.

"I love a visit from my dead sister and her little buddy every once in a while, but you don't usually visit unless something bad happens." Tsunade placed her hand under her chin. "So please, cut to the chase, if you will." Hitsugaya took a deep breath.

"Aizen has taken his battle against us to the World of the Living." He shot Tenten a quick glance. "This is beginning to get out of our hands. We need your division."

"My division that only consists of me and about, three other people? With all due respect, captain, if you guys couldn't do it with full squads, how could I?" Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"I was getting to that. You see, there's a lot of people here like you and him," Hitsugaya nodded in Neji's direction, "with high spirit energy. Maybe you can round up some of your comrades to help you out. We need the 14th division."

"I understand, captain," Tenten said after a while. "But, it's not up to me. It's really up to Tsunade-sama." Tenten looked at the Godaime Hokage.

"Well…if they pose a threat to my village, then I guess it must be done."


	2. Chapter 2

_author's note: Didn't own Naruto five minutes ago, don't own it now, won't own it ever._

* * *

Tenten swept her bangs out of her face and let out a long sigh. She looked at her body, discarded on her couch. She sighed again and looked at the other two souls by her side; their gigai's also lifeless bodies in her living room. Rangiku was standing up with her arms crossed over her chest-Tenten was surprised her arms could span that much-and Toshirou was sitting across from Tenten with his legs folded beneath himself and his hands in his lap. Tenten rubbed the back of her neck and cleared her throat.

"So, Neji, Ino, Hinata, Sai, Sakura, Sasuke," she sucked in a breath, "Shikamaru, Temari, Gaara and, of course, Naruto." She scratched her hand, innocently. "Plus my co-captain. That's twelve people, which is more than enough."

"Right," Toshirou nodded. "Now we just have to find ten shinigami that are willing to give some of their power to your friends. Matsumoto, inform your sister that we have to take them to the Soul Society for a bit." Rangiku nodded and smiled. "Do you think your village head would be okay with us taking so many of her people?"

"Well, we're coming back, aren't we? Besides, Gaara and Temari aren't Konoha nin, and the only jonin we're taking is Neji...and Sai is an ANBU but he doesn't do much of anything," Tenten chuckled a bit. "He's so lazy that sometimes he downright denies missions just because he rather paint or something."

"Alright then. I'm going to get back in my gigai, and we're going to..." Toshirou sighed, "...roam the village." He casted a quick glance in Rangiku's direction. She was grinning madly.

"Thank you, taichou!" She threw her arms around him and squeezed him. Tenten, now back in her own body, was laughing like a maniac. Rangiku twirled her captain around, as he flailed his arms in a futile attempt to break free.

"M-Matsumoto! Get off me! That's an order!" Rangiku ignored him and squeezed him even tighter. Tenten could only see Toshirou's hair sticking out of Rangiku's...melons.

"I've never seen a guy protest to being smothered by breasts. Well, Neji would probably kill Matsumoto-fukutaichou if she did that to him and Gaara would drown her in sand, but Kiba, Naruto and Kankurou would be lovin' it." Tenten said through giggles. When Matsumoto finally released him, Toshirou turned to Tenten with a red face. Tenten raised her eyebrow, amused.

"Taichou, do you have a fever! Your face is all red!" Rangiku exclaimed and grabbed onto her captain. She looked him in the eyes as his face only reddened. "Oh, taichou!" Tenten laughed again as the hugging session restarted.

"It's best not to fight her, Hitsugaya-taichou." Tenten waved her hand. Rangiku released Toshirou and pouted.

"What's so bad about my hugs?" She crossed her arms and glared at Tenten. This caused the younger girl to laugh uncontrollably. Rangiku whined and even Toshirou raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Tenten-chan! What's so funny!"

"Well, there's nothing bad about your hugs. In fact, for someone Hitsugaya-taichou's age and gender, they might be too good," Tenten answered, winking. Toshirou went red again and glared at Tenten and Rangiku thought for a moment. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized what Tenten was implicating.

"Tenten-taichou! Who knew you could be so dirty?" Rangiku exclaimed. Tenten giggled and stood up.

"Come on, enough playing around." Tenten walked towards the door but froze when she realized they weren't following her. "Um, guys, come on."

"Where's your communicator?" Toshirou asked and began roaming around her house. Tenten sighed and led the two downstairs to her basement. Surely enough, there was a large screen that took up the entire wall. She pointed to it and stepped back.

"What are you going to do with it?" Tenten wondered and looked at Toshirou. He didn't say anything for a minute as he turned it on.

"Gotta see who's willing to give up half of their powers." Toshirou answered after a few moments. Tenten nodded and they watched as Byakuya appeared on the screen. As soon as she saw his face, Tenten grinned like a mad woman. "Kuchiki-san, I'm sure you know how Matsumoto and I were sent to get the 14th Division rounded up to get rid of the Aizen problem."

"Yes, I am aware. Tenten-san, it's good to see you again." Byakuya nodded in Tenten's direction. Tenten flashed him a smile. "I can see that you've found her. Is my assistance required in the world of the living?"

"Well, you see Kuchiki-taichou, we need about ten shinigami that would be willing to give part of their power to Tenten's friends so we can form the 14th division," Toshirou answered, "we were wondering if you could select ten and get them to agree by the time we get to the soul society."

"Alright. I already have approximately fifteen people in mind," Byakuya nodded. "Rally up these people so we can do what we need to do." Byakuya watched as Toshirou and Tenten both nodded obediently. "Oh, and Tenten?"

"Hm, Kuchiki-taichou?" The bun haired girl tilted her head to the side.

"You should start visiting more often...Renji misses you." Byakuya coughed in his hand. "Goodbye for now, Hitsugaya-taichou, Tenten-taichou, and Matsumoto-fukutaichou." Before Tenten could answer, the communication was broken.

"Well!" Rangiku exclaimed. "Let's not keep the man waiting!" She walked out of the room. Toshirou and Tenten exchanged glances and shrugged. They followed Rangiku out of the house and into the streets of Konoha. Civilians were scurrying around with food, decorations, and baskets in their hands.

"What's going on?" Toshirou asked and stared at Tenten. Tenten thought for a moment, placing a finger to her chin. She grinned and nodded, as if remembering something extremely exciting.

"The annual Snow Leopard Festival. It's really exciting. All of us Shinobi get the day off and we dress up in yukatas and kimonos. We watch fireworks, play games, and see the snow leopard dance." Tenten explained. Upon seeing the look on Rangiku's face, Toshirou let out a soft groan.

"Can we please go, taichou? Please, please, please?" Rangiku pressed her hands together and got down on one knee. Some passing civilians cooed out 'awww's and 'ooooh's, and someone called out 'is that busty woman proposing to a little boy?'. Thankfully, Hitsugaya didn't hear that last one.

"No, Matsumoto! We have to gather up Tenten's friends! We came here to do something, not to play around." Toshirou crossed his arms. Rangiku latched on to him an gave her best pout.

"Ano, Hitsugaya-san, Sai, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto are on a mission and they won't be back until tomorrow." Tenten interjected, earning her a glare from Toshirou.

"Alright," he let out a sigh, "fine." As soon as he spoke those words, Rangiku threw her arms around his neck and began squeezing her against him. She grinned happily as he began to flail his arms.

"You're so sweet! Thank you, taichou! I love you!" She purred. Tenten laughed at the antics of the two as curious villagers watched the scene from afar.

"Matsumoto-san, you're attracting a lot of attention to us," Tenten stated. "And you can't call us taichou around here. It's weird to them." She nodded in the direction of the villagers. Rangiku released Toshirou and frowned slightly.

"Both of you are no fun!" She whined, causing Toshirou to wince. Tenten rolled her eyes and grabbed the wrist of each of them. She began pulling them through the streets, ignoring the stares that people were giving them. She stopped in front of a clothing store and pushed the two in.

"Both of you have...abnormal body structures so you guys have to pick out very specific kimonos." Tenten was walking towards the juniors section with Rangiku. Toshirou let out a soft groan and followed after her.

"Ah, hello, ma'am!" The cheerful worker skipped over to them. Her blonde hair bounced behind her back and her piercing green eyes looked into Tenten's brown ones. "Hmm...I'm Mina and I think that pink is the color for you!" She glanced at Rangiku and widened her eyes slightly. "Ma'am, those things are HEAVENLY!" She pointed to Rangiku's boobs. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to express my thoughts out loud but holy shit! Someone else might have to do your fitting because I'm too tempted to touch 'em!" Mina giggled. "Alright, anyway, I think your older sister might look good in pink. As for your brother," Mina leaned over, "hey little guy! Aw, what a cutie. He should stop frowning like that though, his face might get stuck!" Mina began to laugh like a maniac. "Oooh, blue is definitely his color!"

"Um..." Toshirou opened his mouth and closed it again. Tenten smiled apologetically at him and Rangiku actually looked like she was enjoying herself. Mina began shuffling through yukatas until she pulled out a sky blue one. She held it up to Toshirou's body and nodded happily.

"Off you go! The men's fitting room is over there, little man," she winked and nudged him with her elbow. Toshirou sighed and took the yukata from her and walked to the direction she pointed in. "Now for you ladies!" She grabbed Rangiku and Tenten by the wrists and pulled them into the woman's section. She took a pink and floral kimono off the rack and handed it to Tenten. "That's a small." She informed. "Now for you, ma'am. You have a very slender frame and you're pretty tall- you're 5'8 aren't you?- but you need a kimono that will hold up those tetahs!" She pulled out a kimono that matched Tenten's. "It's a large, but here, let me help you with that." She grinned and pushed the two in the direction of the woman's fitting room. Tenten let out a sigh.

This was going to be a _long_ day.


End file.
